Category: Capitalism

We’ll start with the ugly. Yes, Trump has a big mouth and has said a lot of mean things about a lot of people. He was also caught in a private conversation saying very inappropriate things about his “way” with women. Right on cue, the Clinton machine trots out a bevy of accusers who come out of the woodwork three weeks before the election. Are the accusations true or not? Who knows and really who cares? Compared to all of the actual crimes and lies of the Clintons, the words of Trump and the allegations against him are child’s play.

Now the bad. A few of his proposed policies are bad. He clearly does not understand economics and his proposed protectionist policies (with threats of tariffs) will be about as effective as Herbert Hoover’s were just prior to the depression. He clearly has few principled positions. He does not really understand the Constitution and that its purpose is to limit and restrain government. He has said a lot of just plain dumb and contradictory things about a lot of policy issues. My hope here is that he will surround himself with the right economic and national security advisers and from all appearances he is doing that.

Now the good. The first thing to understand is that Trump does not need this. He had a great life, great business, great family, and could have easily spent his sunset years flying around on his jet with Melania and golfing at his luxury resorts. I do believe that, like many millions of other Americans, he is truly concerned about the direction of this country and what it means for our future and that’s why he threw his hat in the ring. That alone is reason enough to vote for him over a woman who desperately needs this — Mrs. Clinton has been scheming to gain this as a pinnacle of power her entire adult life.

Trump has also been the only Republican in recent memory to fight. Romney, McCain and all the rest of the milquetoasts rolled over while the Democrats engaged in the most loathsome smear campaigns with their partners in the media. To his credit, Trump has also pushed back on hard on political correctness and challenged the entire establishment.

Most importantly, despite all of the noise and the pathetic depths this election has sunk to, there are serious differences in policy. Let’s put the character issues aside for a moment and think about the long-term consequences of policies that will actually matter.

Here are some of the most important things that are being buried under all the piles of B. S.:

The Economy. Trump wants to cut the corporate income tax from 35 percent to 15 percent (on average) across all businesses. This is great news. It will boost jobs, promote economic growth, and give corporations a powerful incentive to stay in the U.S. or repatriate. He has also promised to roll back some of the 24,000+ regulations Obama has saddled us with. Hillary, on the other hand, makes vague promises from her Marxist playbook, such as “equal pay,” “fairness,” “minimum wage,” and “make the rich pay their fair share.” She never shows how these policies actually produce more jobs or more economic growth. That’s because they don’t. All she will do is accelerate the downward pull and pressure group warfare of the welfare state.

The Supreme Court. The next appointments will change the Supreme court for forty years. If Hillary wins, both the first and second amendments will be in jeopardy — these are most important amendments of a free country. Clinton has shown she is an enemy of free expression and has said many times she wants to overturn the “Citizens United” decision, which simply upholds the right to free speech in matters of politics. Trump has named possible appointees who will uphold the U.S. Constitution. In the second debate, Clinton listed several race, gender, and age related social goals for her new Court. She did not mention the Constitution because she couldn’t care less about the Constitution. Trump may not either, but at least there are many on his side that do.

Foreign Policy. Trump has not been very clear as to his foreign policy; however, he does state his approach would be “America first.” Historically, and this goes back to the group that was skeptical of our entry into World War II, “America First” has meant that America’s love for its ideals of freedom, individual rights, and the democratic process, does not mean that we have to spread them all over the world using the military. My sense is that Trump would only focus on actual threats and eradicate them forcefully. He has hinted at an approach that would seek cooperation with friendly and not-so-friendly allies like Russia. Hillary has said she would oppose Russian power in Syria in order to support “democratic forces” fighting the regime. Other than that, it is pretty clear she will continue Obama’s policies of appeasement, and she can barely utter the words “radical Islamic terrorism.” Her record as Secretary of State was disastrous and much of the world is on fire because of it. By any objective measure, the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of the past eight years has been an epic failure.

Healthcare. Trump wants to repeal Obamacare, encourage competition among health insurance companies, and create health care savings plans and tax exemptions for medical expenses. In other words, he would be moving toward free markets and the private sector, which is the right direction. Hillary wants to try to duct tape Obamacare (which is already in a death spiral as we speak), but everyone knows that her real dream is “single payer,” which is a complete government run, Soviet-style healthcare system. Do you really want the government “running” the healthcare industry?

Energy and the Environment. Trump understands we are becoming energy independent thanks to technology such as fracking and natural gas storage. Because of these advances, we have now become the #1 energy producer in the world for the first time in decades. This means we can potentially be free of dependence on oil from the Middle East. Trump questions the man-made global warming dogma, and says there is no evidence it presents a long-term threat. The global warming hypothesis is full of holes and it certainly should not justify the elimination of our robust fossil fuel economy, dramatically higher energy prices, and making us dependent on the Middle East. Hillary, on the other hand, laughably believes “global warming and climate change” are the single greatest crisis facing America. Mrs. Clinton (or is it Mrs. Quixote) wants to dismantle America’s fossil fuel energy infrastructure and, as we learned in some recent Wikileaks emails, “dreams” of a hemisphere comprised of windmills, solar panels and “open borders.” That is sheer madness because those “clean energy” solutions have never turned a profit, and have proven to be utterly incapable of powering an advanced industrial civilization. She has been openly hostile to coal producers and workers. And an “open borders” policy in an age of terror would pose a grave threat to America.

National and Domestic Security. Trump has stated he will work to restore law and order. He has promised to rebuild the military. He has been on the right side in the war on our cops, a war which has been exacerbated by the false narratives spun by the likes of President Obama and the rest of the left. There is a reason why the most honorable men in the country support Trump over Clinton. Mrs. Clinton has rushed to judgment before the facts are in regarding cases such as the shooting in Tulsa, OK, has perpetrated the myth of institutional racism among law enforcement, and has even gone so far as to claim that all Americans are racist in the second debate (which she called “implicit bias”). Mrs. Clinton will do virtually nothing about illegal immigration and has incredibly promised to increase the Syrian refugee influx into our country by 550%, while admitting that there is really no way to vet them. In doing so, it appears she would like us to suffer the same fate as Europe, which is in crisis due to a deadly combination of migrants, terrorism, and crippling debt.

Illegal Immigration. There are now around 12 million illegal aliens in the United States. By definition, they came here by violating our law. Since they are illegal, they cannot legally work within the system, cannot pay taxes, cannot pay social security, etc. However, they do enjoy many benefits supported by taxpayers at tremendous cost (and risk). Consider what John Quincy Adams said about immigration and think about it within the context of today’s welfare state:

“But there is one principle which pervades all the institutions of this country, and which must always operate as an obstacle to the granting of favors to new comers.This is a land, not of privileges, but of equal rights. Privileges are granted by European sovereigns to particular classes of individuals, for purposes of general policy; but the general impression here is that privileges granted to one denomination of people, can very seldom be discriminated from erosions of the rights of others.”

Trump says that in a country founded on equal application of the law, the current situation is simply not fair. He says those who are illegal need to go through the process (which we have) to become legal. He also says that new illegals, which are pouring into the country at unprecedented rates (many of whom are criminals and some of whom are potential terrorists), must be stopped. Oh, and he wants to build a wall in case you haven’t heard. Hillary says expecting people to obey our immigration laws is is racism, bigotry, cruelness, and just plain “deplorable.” Her solution to illegal immigrants is to simply wave her wand and declare them legal. Won’t that provide an incentive for millions more to come in the same way? How is that possibly fair to those who are waiting in line to come in legally?

Education. Trump wants to make education a state and local matter. Altough the Federal government should not be involved to begin with, at least he wants to direct funds from the federal government toward “schools of choice,” charter schools, and other alternatives to the failing public education monopoly. Clinton, because she’s beholden to the NEA and the unions, wants to permit no competition within the public education system. She’ll just keep throwing more and more money at the failing model. That’s the Democrats’ way and the NEA loves it.

These are pretty stark policy differences. These are the policies that will effect our lives, our security, our prosperity and our country. And considering the importance of the Supreme Court, these are the policies that will set the direction of the country for decades and effect the lives of our children and grandchildren.

The sordid private lives and sex lives of the candidates don’t matter one iota in comparison with the huge issues above. This is why I believe Trump is clearly deserving of our votes.

There are a couple of ways to look at it in context. The first is this: voting for Trump is like playing Russian Roulette — we don’t really know what we’re getting and it could end in disaster. But voting for Hillary is like playing Russian Roulette with a gun that’s fully loaded.

Another way to look at it is this: yes, Trump is a train wreck as a politician; however, I do think he will act as a giant monkey wrench in the evil establishment machine and slow down our descent into socialist oblivion combined with a rising jihad. He will at least buy us some time while we try to get better candidates for high office. Obama’s core policies of socialism for Americans and appeasement for our enemies have made us far less prosperous and less safe. They have made us far, far weaker and set us on a disastrous course. Trump will at least attempt to reverse that, whereas Hillary will double down on it.

A President Trump will also drive the entire elite establishment crazy and all of the hypocritical and holier-than-thou leftists will be clutching their pearls and rushing to their safe spaces (where they will write checks to left wing agitators to cause trouble). He might be worth your vote for that alone, but really, consider the ramifications of the policies above closely before you step into the ballot box.

That’s really what this crazy game of politics is all about in the end.

It seems it’s very dangerous for Mr. Obama when he goes off teleprompter and reveals to people who he truly is. And who he is, is a power lusting socialist without the slightest understanding of business or the principles that built America. Last week, he wandered off his teleprompter and said this…

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

“If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that, somebody else made that happen.” Really. As someone who has built three businesses, that came as a bit of a shock to me. I must be stupid because I was actually the one who put up all the money, took all the risk, and worked 12 – 16 hour days for years to get them off the ground. I should have just plugged into Mr. Obama’s network of “somebody else’s” and sat back while they “made it happen” for me. Stupid me.

As far as this “unbelievable American system” Mr. Obama refers to, that would be the system of capitalism, which is they very system that he is out to destroy.

Pat Sajak, of all people, best characterized the effect of these comments on public opinion:

It’s as if President Obama climbed into a tank, put on his helmet, talked about how his foray into Cambodia was seared in his memory, looked at his watch, misspelled “potato” and pardoned Richard Nixon all in the same day.

On Facebook Don Surber summed up voters’ impressions nicely:

Americans gave Obama $787 billion for a stimulus. He spent it on government programs. The unemployment rate went up. Slowly it has come down, but it is still higher than when he started spending the stimulus. “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that” confirms for many people — a majority of voters, I believe — that this our president is a big government blowhard who does not understand business and is to blame for the lack of a recovery from this recession. Context is not simply reading the whole speech but placing the speaker in context.

And in context these remarks reveal Obama’s true colors: a collectivist who is contemptuous of individual merit, has no understanding of business or capitalism, and is constantly seeking to diminish and denigrate the producers in our society so he has some rationale for looting them and growing the government.

July 7, 2012 / tom / Comments Off on The Most Frightening Thing About The Obamacare Decision

It is bad enough that there was a 5 to 4 majority supporting the idea that our government now has a right to “tax” us for inaction — or for not acting as they decree — which they are now calling a “penalty” for not buying health insurance. In principle this means they can force us to do anything they want and throw us in jail if we fail to comply with the edict. What’s even more frightening is that there was a 9 to 0 majority in support of the idea that the government does have a right to regulate and tax action, or virtually any commercial activity that we engage in. That is NOT what the Constitution says. The Constitution places the limits on government and was designed to stop the government from interfering with the individual’s right to life, liberty, property and any economic activity we deem necessary to achieve our happiness… so long as it is peaceful and does not violate the rights of others. Sadly, this latest decision is just the last in a long line of Supreme Court decisions that have essentially shredded the Constitution. Are there any limits to government power left?